ORANGE — For the first time in four years there is a contested race in the Orange town election — two, in fact.

Three people are running for a pair of three-year Selectboard seats while another three are vying for a couple of two-year spots on the Elementary School Committee.

Andrew J. Smith is seeking reelection to his Selectboard position and faces challenges from Julie N. Davis and Sandra Fawn Weinstein. Crystal A. Clarke hopes to be elected to the School Committee in her own right a year after being appointed following a member’s resignation. Frank Hains and Jessica Reske are the candidates running against her.

Polls at 62 Cheney St. will be open on Monday, Feb. 5, from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Contact the Town Clerk’s Office at 978-544-1100, ext. 2, with any questions.

Smith, 63, was elected to a three-year seat in 2021, having been encouraged to run by his wife, Barbara.

“I love it, believe it or not. Yes, it can be stressful at times and it can be thankless, but I really feel like I can serve the town,” he said. “I really do enjoy it. I love the town and I love the challenge.”

Smith said he learned quickly about the teamwork a Selectboard requires.

“I have a tendency to be a little more moderate in my thoughts and I feel like I kind of provide a bit of a balance,” he explained.

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Smith acknowledged the recent situation with Billy Goat Boats was disappointing. The family-run watercraft rental business faced eviction from the Orange boathouse following a lease issue caused by an apparent lack of communication within the town’s government.

“It was a bit of a wake-up call for me,” Smith said, “and it really got people fired up. That was tough. That was a really tough situation.”

Smith earned a bachelor’s degree in physics from the State University of New York (SUNY) at Plattsburgh and a master’s degree in atmospheric chemistry from SUNY Albany. He worked for government-owned Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory for 18½ years. He was in charge of the security department’s public utterance, meaning the release of materials to the public.

The Smiths moved to Orange from the Albany area in April 2020, at the start of the pandemic. Smith previously said he long ago fell in love with the North Quabbin area from visits to a Lake Mattawa camp his wife’s family has owned since the 1950 or ’60s.

The commute from work to biweekly Selectboard meetings would be mere feet for Davis, as she is the store manager at the Quabbin Harvest Food Co-op at 12 North Main St. She said she now feels ready to serve on the Selectboard because her children have gone through the Orange public school system and graduated from Ralph C. Mahar Regional School.

“I felt like I wouldn’t have been able to give an appropriate amount of time before this,” she said. “I’d like to be involved because I see so many facets of our town that are really looking to grow and improve. As a person who runs a small business, I’m very interested in making Orange amiable to small businesses.”

She said it would be advantageous to bring in more businesses to lessen the overall tax burden in town.

Davis, 44, is a founding member of Quabbin Harvest and serves on the long-range planning committee in Orange. She is also a member of the Orange Merchants Group and serves as treasurer on the Community Health Center of Franklin County’s board of directors. She said she aims to be a good listener and find ways to bring voices together.

“I’ve lived in town for almost 20 years now and ... my kids are both now off to college and I’m on that long-range planning committee and really feel this is the time I can finally give some time back to the town that has given me so much,” she said.

Davis grew up in Hopedale and attended Clark University in Worcester. She lived in Greenfield and Turners Falls before moving to Orange.

Weinstein chairs the town’s Armory and Historical commissions and has thrown her hat into the ring for Selectboard.

“I’ve been wanting to do it for a while,” she said.

Weinstein grew up in northern California with a father from Worcester and a mother from Providence, Rhode Island. She moved to Massachusetts about five years ago and was overwhelmed by the charm and character of the area’s architecture.

“I just happened to find the need to come back home to where my heritage is,” she said. “It’s amazing what the people are like over here.”

A paralegal by profession, Weinstein said she is also a historic preservationist with a business degree. She said she wants to bring in more businesses and save the town’s old buildings, including the Orange Armory, which has fallen into disrepair. The town offices and services that operated out of the building at 135 East Main St. moved to 62 Cheney St. in October 2021. There is a disagreement on the Selectboard about what to do with the building, with outgoing member Richard Sheridan vowing to fight to save it.

“It’s definitely not sinking into the mud,” Weinstein said. “It’s structurally sound.”

She also said she wants to make the town’s government more open, transparent and fiscally responsible.

Clarke has been on the Elementary School Committee for a year, having been appointed when a member stepped down. She explained that she ran for the seat, but lost and submitted a letter of interest when she learned the victor was resigning.

“I think we handle ourselves pretty well,” she said of the committee.

Clarke, 39, has four children, some of whom have individualized education plans and have been diagnosed with epilepsy and autism.

“I enjoy being a voice of parents,” she said. “I feel it’s important for special education parents to have a voice, because they don’t get heard as well. I just wanted to see some changes in the school itself. I just felt I wasn’t being heard enough.”

Clarke said she is an advocate for anti-bullying initiatives and making sure all students get the same opportunities. She also said she would like to foster a mutual respect between administrations and families and represent taxpayers’ needs.

The stay-at-home mom grew up in Lynn and moved to Orange six years ago, after she and her late husband bought a house in town.

Hains taught in Athol for 37 years before retiring.

“I’ve been on the other end of it, so I thought it would be interesting and worthwhile to be on this end,” he said.

Hains said he had previously considered running for the Elementary School Committee and made his decision about two months ago.

“I have the time, I have the experience as a school teacher, and I just think that would be helpful,” he said. “I think it’s beneficial to see that side. I think it’s good to have a teacher’s point of view.”

Hains, 67, said his children and grandchildren have gone through the Orange public school system and he has nieces and nephews that are enrolled now. He mentioned he grew up in Athol and has lived in Orange for about 45 years. He now works part-time at Quabbin Harvest.

Reske, 38, grew up in Amherst and moved to Orange 10 years ago after buying a house. She decided in the spring to run for the Elementary School Committee.

“I decided to run because I wanted to try to be an advocate for our teachers and for our students, and to try to make everybody a better team and work together,” she said. “My main goal is really just to get … everybody on the same page. It seems like there are some opposing viewpoints and, maybe clashing, of ideas.”

Reske said she has two children — her oldest attends Fisher Hill Elementary School and her youngest will start there in the fall.

Reske, who is employed by the Liberty Mutual insurance company, said she has worked in customer service her entire professional life and feels that experience will help bring people and ideas together.

A meet-the-candidates forum is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. on Thursday in Mahar’s small auditorium. Guests are asked to used the middle school entrance.

The other races appear on the ballot as follows:

Incumbent Jane M. Peirce, three-year term, Board of Health; Josefa Divora Bashein Scherer, three-year term, Elementary School Committee; Yarelyn Ramos Martinez, one-year term, Elementary School Committee; incumbents Shannon M. Johnson and Patricia A. Smith, three-year terms, Mahar School Committee; incumbent Priscilla Rhoda Gaignard, three-year term, library trustees; Jessica Marie Morris, one-year term, library trustees; incumbent Michael F. Hume, three-year term, water commissioners; incumbent Michelle L. LeBlanc, three-year term, cemetery commissioners; and Stephen P. Johnson, two-year term, cemetery commissioners.

There are no candidates for moderator, trustees of the soldiers’ memorials, a two-year term as water commissioner or a four-year seat on the Housing Authority.

A sample ballot can be viewed at tinyurl.com/2024OrangeBallot.

Reach Domenic Poli at: dpoli@recorder.com or 413-930-4120.